Steenwijkerdiep 

The Steenwijkerdiep is a new venue for me. It is a lovely looking canal and very similar to many larger English canals.

My peg for the day - end peg 5

I checked the depth for everyone with my Deeper Sonar and found 2 m in the middle and also at 8 m where it started to shallow off. With this in mind I set up to fish at 10 m with the prospect of strong winds to come.

Everyone getting ready for day 1 of our week's fishing. Let's hope it's a good start.

I also set up my waggler rod to fish across with a 4 g Drennan waggler. My pole rigs were a 4x16 (0.5g) Preston Chianti and a 4x18 (0.75g) Preston Inter Carbon. On the Chianti rig I used a Preston N10 size 18 hook, and on the Inter Carbon a Preston N20 size 18 hook. 

My bait selection for today. I decided to start cautiously and feed more after the fish arrived.

Groundbait for today was VDE Black Earth and Zammataro Roach & Skimmers Cloud Natur. For the hook I have maggots & pinkies (dead and alive), casters, hemp and worms.

Two pole rigs and a waggler rig for the far bank. I only set up to fish the pole at 10 m due to a forecasted strong wind.

I didn't put any chopped worm in at the beginning as I just wasn't sure how many fish to expect, so I decided for a slow start.

Five balls at the start

I fed five balls of groundbait with casters, and dead maggots at the start. I decided against chopped worms until I'd caught a few fish. 

I fed the waggler line with hemp and casters at regular intervals and would have a look across several times during the day - alas, the waggler never produced one single bite.

I started with a single white maggot on the Chianti rig and caught my first fish after about 5 minutes.

The Chianti rig was by far the best rig today. A bulk just below half-depth and then a tapered string of number 11 stotz to the N10 size 18 hook. 

Single maggot and double pinkie were the best hook-baits. 

Phil weighed-in 1 lb 14 oz today, and is pictured here with 2 nice Roach.

Martin put 3 lb 6 oz on the scales in a catch that included a nice Skimmer.

Vince was 3rd today with a weight of 4 lb 14 oz. Pictured with his largest fish of the day.

I managed 6 lb 13 oz for second on the day - and I had a small Skimmer too.

I thought the fishing was OK when you consider it's not been fished here very much. 

Roger won the day today with a great weight of 11 lb 2 oz to take an early lead in the series.

Roger has now taken an early lead, but with the result based on overall weight this year, an angler could win on the very last of the 5 days to be fished.

First day results board